(Ottawa, ON)- 8 Canadian Junior athletes travelled to Sheffield, England to compete in the 2014 British Junior Open. The event took place from January 2nd to January 6th, where they joined 414 other squash players from 35 nations.
(Ottawa, ON)- 8 Canadian Junior athletes travelled to Sheffield, England to compete in the 2014 British Junior Open. The event took place from January 2nd to January 6th, where they joined 414 other squash players from 35 nations.
Chloe Chemtob recently captured the U.S. Junior Open U17 title, and was on a mission to have the same success at the BJO. In the 3rd round, she came up short in a fierce 5 game match against Egyptian Nadin Shahin, who continued on to place 4th in the tournament (11-2, 9-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-4). Chemtob came back to win the rest of her matches, earning herself 9th place in the U17 division and was the highest ranking Canadian at the tournament.
Hannah Blatt, the only other female Canadian in the tournament, performed exceptionally in the U15 division. She faced strong competitors such as Nga Ching Cheng from Hong Kong and Hania El Hammamy from Egypt, who placed 2nd in the tournament. Blatt competed and was defeated in her final match against Germany’s Saskia Beinhard (11-8, 13-11, 11-3), placing 14th out of a total 48 competitors in her division.
Michael Mehl dominated the first 4 rounds of competition. In the 5th round, he fell short to Israel’s Ido Burstein in an intense battle lasting 35 minutes (3-11, 11-6, 13-11, 11-7). For final ranking, he competed and won his match in 3 games against Czech Republic’s Voktech Ryba, earning him 19th place overall in the U15 division.
David Baillargeon also performed well, earning the 29th after his win against Owain Taylor, a Wales native in a long, 50 minute 4 game match (6-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-8).
Other Canadians who competed in the tournament were Noel Heaton (U15, 42nd place), Brock Janzer (U17, 44th place), David Mill (U17, 46th place), and Jarryd Osborne (U19, 55th place).
